Button Quail Chicks At 12 Days

Yes, we love our salad greens!

My little button quail chicks are putting on feathers of many colors. There are quite a few silver, a couple of cinnamon, and some I-don't-know-what. Each one is beautiful.

Their diet is expanding as they are now having some salad greens. They are eating ground gamebird starter with a small amount of ground kitten food added. (1/4 c. kitten food to 2 c. gamebird starter)

Feathers grow first on the wings.

And what a surprise: they can fly even this young! I learned the hard way when my precious Quailito flew out and was killed by one of my chihuahuas. A couple days later it happened again while I was feeding. And I was trying to be very careful! The chicks are now in a dog-proof area.

The chicks started avoiding the heat light, so I changed the light bulb from 60 watt to 40 watt and they now seem comfortable. Soon they will need a larger brooder as they become more active. (sigh) How quickly they grow!

Pretty babies

Twelve Button Quail Chicks

Button Quail Chicks 11 of 12

By 2 pm Sunday, seven more chicks hatched. The final total was 12!

Three New Silver Chicks

Quailito (L) watches as Rocket runs with the new silver chicks.

Saturday brought three darling silver chicks. They are fitting in just fine. I cannot tell them apart, so they don't have names yet.

Quailito naps in his favorite spot.

Button Quail Hatch

Quailito - First Button Quail Hatchling

My button quail eggs began hatching last Friday. First out was Quailito. I couldn't believe how tiny and perfect he was! About five hours later, Rocket hatched. Rocket got her name because she met every new challenge -- drinking water, pecking her food, running around -- as if there was zero learning curve. Clearly she is a very smart little quail.

Rocket - Quail Genius

Quailito was very happy to finally have a buddy.

In The Brooder

L to R: Luke Groundwalker, Peep, Princess Leia

Fourteen hours after the first egg hatched, two more little quail hatched at the same time. Peep was ecstatic when they joined her in the brooder.

Their brooder is a cardboard box with rubber shelf liner in the bottom. I added a little hay so the chicks could have something to pick at besides each other. The box is covered with a cookie cooling rack and a towel over the cool end. A 60 watt bulb sits on the wire rack for heat (93F). The food and water are at the cool end.

They are eating Purina Gamebird Starter crumble that is ground to small bits in the blender. Their water bowl is a peanut butter jar lid with marbles to keep them from getting drenched.

First Quail

This is my first-hatched coturnix quail, Peep. She is about 12 hours old in this video.

Just before she arrived on the scene, I made peeping noises to the eggs and then went to bed. Very soon there was a ruckus in the incubator as baby Peep hammered her way out of the egg in about four strokes!